“Budget Ignored Concerns of Seed Industry”: says Director General of Federation of Seed Industry of India

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 in Parliament on Wednesday to which Kaundinya said in a statement, "We are disappointed that no announcement of support for seed and technology research has been made." FSII had asked for the restoration of the 200 percent income tax deduction for seed industry research expenditures.

Kaundinya also stated that private sector research investments must be increased in order to meet the challenges of climate change, natural resource depletion, newly emerging pests and diseases, and stagnant yields.

"We were expecting some sort of incentive for such investments, which did not occur," he added. Kaundinya also stated that the extra-long staple (ELS) cotton project is a step in the right direction.

"We believe that a significant amount of research investment is required as part of this project, in which the private sector and ICAR can collaborate to develop high-yielding hybrids with ELS and other fibre characteristics," he said.

Germplasm is important in this project, and both sectors should come forward to share germplasm. Farmers will grow more ELS cotton if they find it profitable and high yielding, he says.

About FSII:

FSII aspires to be the leading industry body by projecting a cross-industry IP strategy, collaborating with government to create value, and aligning seed with end-user industries. FSII is an APAARI, APSA, ISF, and CropLife Asia member. FSII organises regional workshops on topics such as variety protection, ABS harmonisation, good practises alignment, biotech food and feed regulations, and gene editing regulations.